William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. is an American R&B and soul singer,songwriter,record producer,and former record executive. He was the founder and frontman of the pioneering Motown vocal group the Miracles,for which he was also chief songwriter and producer. He led the group from its 1955 origins,when they were called The Five Chimes,until 1972,when he retired from the group to focus on his role as Motown Records vice president. Robinson returned to the music industry as a solo artist the following year. He left Motown in 1999.
Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12,1959,it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14,1960. Its name,a portmanteau of motor and town,has become a nickname for Detroit,where the label was originally headquartered.
Berry Gordy III,also known as Berry Gordy Jr.,is an American retired record executive,record producer,songwriter,film and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record label and its subsidiaries,which was the highest-earning African-American business for decades.
Motown 25:Yesterday,Today,Forever is a 1983 television special,produced by Suzanne de Passe for Motown,to commemorate its 25th anniversary. The program was taped before a live audience at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena,California on March 25,1983,and broadcast on NBC on May 16. Among its highlights were Michael Jackson's performance of "Billie Jean",Smokey Robinson's reunion with the Miracles,a Temptations / Four Tops "battle of the bands",Marvin Gaye's inspired speech about black music history and his memorable performance of "What's Going On",a Jackson 5 reunion,and an abbreviated reunion of Diana Ross &the Supremes,who performed their final #1 hit,"Someday We'll Be Together" from 1969. The show was written by Buz Kohan,Ruth Robinson,and de Passe. The broadcast was watched by over 47 million viewers.
Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5 is the debut studio album from by the American soul family band The Jackson 5. It was released on December 12,1969 by Motown. The Jackson 5's lead singer,a preadolescent Michael Jackson and his four older brothers Jackie,Tito,Jermaine,and Marlon,became pop successes within months of this album's release. Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5's only single,"I Want You Back",became a number-one hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 within weeks of the album's release. The album reached number 5 on the US Pop Albums chart,and spent nine weeks at No. 1 on the US R&B/Black Albums charts. To date,the Jackson 5's debut album has sold estimated 5 million copies worldwide.
Ronald Anthony White was an American baritone singer,best known as the co-founder of the Miracles and its only consistent original member. White was also known for bringing Stevie Wonder to the attention of Motown Records,and writing several hit singles for the Miracles as well as other artists including the Temptations,Marvin Gaye,and Mary Wells. White died of leukemia in 1995,at 57 years old. In 2012,White was a posthumous inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with The Miracles.
Diana &Marvin is a duets album by American soul musicians Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye,released October 26,1973 on Motown. Recording sessions for the album took place between 1971 and 1973 at Motown Recording Studios in Hollywood,California. Gaye and Ross were widely recognized at the time as two of the top pop music performers.
In Loving Memory is a gospel compilation released by Motown Records in September 1968. It is dedicated to the memory of Motown founder Berry Gordy's sister,Mrs. Loucye S. Gordy Wakefield,and features several popular Motown acts,including Diana Ross &the Supremes,The Temptations,The Miracles and Marvin Gaye,performing versions of popular gospel songs and spirituals.
David T. Walker is an American soul/R&B,and jazz guitarist. In addition to numerous session musician duties since the early 1970s,Walker has issued fifteen albums in his own name.
Blue,originally titled The Blue Album,is a studio album by American singer Diana Ross. Initially recorded between late 1971 and early 1972,it was released as Ross' twenty-third studio album by Motown Records on June 20,2006. Overseen by Ross' musical director Gil Askey,the jazz-flavoured album was originally conceived as a follow-up to her soundtrack to the 1972 American biographical drama film Lady Sings the Blues in which Ross starred. Berry Gordy and Motown subsequently decided to shelve the album,and Ross' next release was the more pop-oriented Touch Me in the Morning (1973) album.
Pamela Joan Sawyer is an English songwriter/lyricist,who started writing songs in the mid-1960s and whose credits as a co-writer at Motown included "Love Child","If I Were Your Woman","My Whole World Ended ",and "Love Hangover".
What Love Has...Joined Together is a 1970 album by R&B group Smokey Robinson &The Miracles on Motown Records' Tamla label. A concept album consisting solely of six short love songs,it charted at number 97 on the Billboard Top 200 Album chart,and reached the Top 10 of Billboard's R&B album chart,peaking at number 9. It was the first Miracles album to have no new songs;the recordings are all cover versions of songs written by noted composers,such as Stevie Wonder,Berry Gordy,Frank Wilson,Brenda Holloway and her sister Patrice Holloway,Burt Bacharach and Hal David,Marvin Gaye,The Beatles' John Lennon &Paul McCartney,,and Miracles members Smokey Robinson and Bobby Rogers.
The Gordys are an African-American family of businesspeople and music industry executives. They were born to Georgia-reared parents Berry "Pops" Gordy Sr. and Bertha Gordy and raised in Detroit,where most of the siblings played a pivotal role in the international acceptance of rhythm and blues music as a crossover phenomenon in the 1960s. The accomplishment is attributable to the creation of Motown,a company founded by the seventh-oldest sibling,Berry Gordy Jr..
Motown Chartbusters is a series of compilation albums first released by EMI under licence on the Tamla Motown label in Britain. In total,12 editions were released in the UK between 1967 and 1982. Volumes 1 and 2 were originally called British Motown Chartbusters;after this the title Motown Chartbusters was used.
Paul Riser is an American trombonist and Motown musical arranger who was responsible for co-writing and arranging dozens of top ten hit records. His legacy as one of the "Funk Brothers" is similar to that of most of the other "Brothers",as his career has been overlooked and overshadowed by the stars of Motown that became household names. Some of the Funk Brothers he worked with include:Earl Van Dyke,Johnny Griffith,Robert White,Eddie Willis,Joe Messina,Dennis Coffey,Wah Wah Watson,James Jamerson,Bob Babbitt,Eddie Watkins,Richard "Pistol" Allen,Uriel Jones,Andrew Smith,Jack Ashford,Valerie Simpson,Eddie "Bongo" Brown,Benny Benjamin,Cornelius Grant,Joe Hunter,Richard "Popcorn" Wylie,Marcus Belgrave,Teddy Buckner and Stevie Wonder.
Motown:The Musical is a jukebox musical that premiered on Broadway in April 2013. The musical is based on Berry Gordy's autobiography To Be Loved:The Music,the Magic,the Memories of Motown (1994),and on the history of his founding and running of the Motown record label,and his personal and professional relationships with Motown artists such as Diana Ross,Smokey Robinson,Marvin Gaye,and Michael Jackson. The production's music and lyrics are taken from selections from the Motown catalog. It received four nominations at the 67th Tony Awards.
Anna Ruby Gaye was an American businesswoman,composer and songwriter. An elder sister of Motown founder Berry Gordy,she became a record executive in the mid-to-late 1950s distributing records released on Checker and Gone Records before forming the Anna label with Billy Davis and her sister Gwen Gordy Fuqua. Gordy later became known as a songwriter for several hits including the Originals' "Baby,I'm for Real",and at least two songs on Marvin Gaye's What's Going On album. The first wife of Gaye,their turbulent marriage later served as inspiration for Gaye's 15th studio album,Here,My Dear.
Marilyn McLeod was an American songwriter and occasional singer. McLeod began her career as a songwriter for Motown. Together with Pam Sawyer,she wrote the 1976 Diana Ross hit "Love Hangover".
"Pops We Love You"...The Album is a 1979 compilation album by various Motown Records artists,including Marvin Gaye,Diana Ross,Stevie Wonder,Smokey Robinson,Jermaine Jackson,the Commodores,and Táta Vega. The title song is a tribute to Berry "Pops" Gordy Sr.,father of Motown founder Berry Gordy. It was released on April 26,1979.
